Fridge or freezer??

[chadjaja]

I have decided after washing and bottling a batch today when tired and sore from work that is enough. I will still bottle some of my brew but I want my staples of pale ales, ciders etc in keg form.

Now what to choose?
A old fridge off ebay or a chest freezer off ebay??

Is it a preference or would any of you recommend one over the other and why?

Would one conversion need more tools etc.

I'd like to keep costs down as I'm stretching the marriage to get this anyway.
The cheapest online place to buy keg systems still seems to be ebay as well.

Starting out what shouldn't I do

Advice from you guys that have done it all before and learnt from either success or mistakes is much appreciated.

[timmy]

I've just bought my first kegs and some of the gear and I'm on the lookout for a chest freezer. I want to make a kegerator (or whatever they're called) to make it presentable in the rumpus room. I'd never get 'authorisation' for an old fridge with a couple of taps hanging out the front....

Cheers,

Tim

[Tipsy]

I use a fridge coz it was easy to drill holes through the wall for the taps, I can only fit 3 kegs in there though.

The chest freezer look the goods but those towers look expensive, or you may have to put a collar on it for the taps.

Either way it'll be farkin fantastic

[chadjaja]

yeah I spent a good part of the night looking at how to pages on the chest freezer and I reckon thats the go.

Towers are expensive and over the top imo for a fridge that goes into the garage and not a bar environment. The collar looks to be pretty easy to piece together. I'll get cheaper taps to put in the front of the collar and look for a cheaper alternative to those expensive collars and splitters needed for more than one keg. On youtube I even saw one made with pvc

Each build I've seen is different in a way so I'm just trying to figure out which one is the best to go with. Some dont drill thru the collar for eg and put it under the collar whilst other drill though the side and then seal it up.

[earle]

From what I've read lately freezers will generally consume far less electricity than fridges, the difference can be up to several hundred dollars per year.

[chadjaja]

That was the wife's first question actually. I'm happier they do as most of the older fridges aren't great in the energy conservation department.

[Clean Brewer]

I have decided after washing and bottling a batch today when tired and sore from work that is enough. I will still bottle some of my brew but I want my staples of pale ales, ciders etc in keg form.

Now what to choose?
A old fridge off ebay or a chest freezer off ebay??

Is it a preference or would any of you recommend one over the other and why?

Would one conversion need more tools etc.

I'd like to keep costs down as I'm stretching the marriage to get this anyway.
The cheapest online place to buy keg systems still seems to be ebay as well.

Starting out what shouldn't I do

Advice from you guys that have done it all before and learnt from either success or mistakes is much appreciated.

Mate, I bought a 2nd Hand Fridge off Ebay for $10 (380ltr-no freezer), and I think in regards to energy consumption, if you just have it as a dedicated keg fridge and are not constantly going in and out of it all the time, energy usage shouldnt be a biggy.

The fridge works the hardest when you open the door and let all the cold air out, keeping in mind also that if you hook up a fridgemate temp controller, your fridge will only be coming on when the temp rises above what you have set and turning itself off once it gets to the temp you have set.

I also just keep the probe in a glass of water in the fridge so it is not coming on based on the air temp in the fridge, but the temp of the liquid in the glass(same as your beer)..

My $0.02 worth.

[earle]

Check out the thread below with regards to electricity running costs

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=18809&st=0&p=258829&#entry258829

[Clean Brewer]

Well Earle,

Thats an interesting article, maybe my next fridge will be a freezer..

[chadjaja]

Thanks for the read mate

Now to find a freezer in my area and get it delivered. Connex wont let me take it on the train LOL

And I might be able to sell some of my bottles too it seems I was bidding on a bottle tree on eBay that was in my suburb. They retail for only $40 and it came with 150 stubbies. Whole lot sold for just short of $100

Can anyone recommend a thermostat for this project. From the youtube conversions I've seen they have glossed over its install so I assume it pain free and wiring free.

[earle]

Fridgemate seems to be pretty popular and at around $50 its well priced as well. Has both heat and cool modes and doesn't require modification to the fridge/freezer/heat belt. The fridgemate plugs into the power point, the fridge plugs into the fridgemate and the temp probe wire can be just closed in the door.

Got mine from Craftbrewer about a week ago. Of course they recommend you get an electrician to wire it up but if you're a little bit handy and can read you can do it yourself. Instructions here http://helms-deep.cable.nu/~rwh/blog/?p=29 thanks to Rob.

[Boonie]

For the Queenslanders....Looks like a pretty new Freezer and has Fridgemate Upright etc, but no drip tray, but who spills beer hey fellas

Linky

Cheers

Boonie

[chadjaja]

Time to revive this thread as I just picked up a 220L chest freezer for $160. I'm pretty happy with that price and regardless it being second hand and older at fridge temps it should last another 10 years.

It will be getting a cool retro look exterior and collar made for taps so I'll put pics up when its all done and what problems etc I ran into as I've found looking at other peoples projects has helped heaps in knowing what to do and how to do it.

Even if the project isn't up and running too quickly with it turned off I still at least have a great place to ferment this summer

Could I use a temp control like this for it?? The seller simply doesn't answer my questions. If not can someone point me to a cheapest alternative that works effectively.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:VRI&item=330298249821

Thanks guys.

[Biernut]

I would give it a miss, the specs are sketchy you don't really know what you are buying. As this unit is almost the same cost as as one that Ross at Craftbrewer has in stock I would contact him. This is a temp contoller which switches automaticlly between heating and cooling depending on your application. The relay contacts are rated at 20 amps so no worries there, runs off 240V, has a digital readout, and at $74.50 not a bad buy. I bought one before Xmas and very happy with it controlling temps in HLT. Note that this is not a PID controller. Talk to Ross he is a very helpfull man and a better deal, than trying to talk to some guy who is a bit shy about giving information. Look at the Tempmate @

http//www.craftbrewer.com

[Goofinder]

Grab a fridgemate from here or your LHBS if they have them: http://craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=718

I've got one running on my chest freezer at the moment. Pretty simple to wire up if you know what you're doing (or can find someone who does). I wouldn't bother with the tempmate as you're going to be using it for a keg fridge so it's not like you're going to be heating anything.

[chadjaja]

Thanks guys I just saw it and wondered if it was useful. I've got a mate with some decent sparky skills that should be able to wire that up for me no worries.

[warra48]

I have a TempMate, and managed to wire it up myself with help from a couple of long threads on AHB. Didn't take long, and was easy, provided you follow the diagrams. The beauty of the TempMate is that it will control the cooling cycle of your fridge/freezer, as well as the heating cycle of a brewbelt or pad, all with the one unit. I believe the other units will do only one function at a time, not both, so some brewers use 2 other units to deal with that? TempMate is well worth the extra few $$ compared to other products, and I'd recommend it highly.

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/i ... ntry367165
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/i ... =26500&hl=

I have a dunkelweizen fermenting at present, and it is sitting between 19.5 to 20.5ºC. Brilliant, finally I have total control over my fermentation/CC/lagering temperatures.

[chadjaja]

Cool thanks Warra tah

LMAO I just made an 80's Austentatious joke

I'm sure thats the first time you have heard that